Patent Application
20050102680
To write (also referred as “print”) to a disc in a CD drive, an interface is needed to allow an imaging application to send data to the drive. In a personal computer (“PC”) with a Windows operating system (“OS”), access to the CD drive is usually done through the cdrom.sys class driver. Interfacing with the class driver requires very low level programming and is not an easy way for an imaging application to send to send print data.
As shown in
As shown in
As a result, to use an SPTI, an application must have administrator privileges (i.e., the user must have administrator privileges). However, as most PC users, particularly those on a network, do not have administrator privileges, the SPTI is usually unavailable, thereby preventing print commands from reaching the CD drive 108.
There are two predominant prior solutions to this administrator access problem. First, as shown in
Unfortunately, as a result of using specialized commands to overcome the print access problem associated with no administrator privileges, this system 150 does not support standard drivers such as the class driver 104 that is already a part of the OS. As a result, the second driver 112 is necessary to act as an interface between the application without administrator privileges 102B and the IDE bus 110 via the port driver 130 and IDE bus driver 140. The second driver 112 may receive the same print commands as the OS driver 104 or may receive specialized print commands as a result of being interfaced with the custom driver. However, the second driver 112 is customized to convert the driver commands of the application 102B into non-SCSI commands which are sent through the bus 110 to the CD drive 108.
The second solution, shown in
One embodiment of the invention is a system and method which enable a user of a computer application without administrator privileges to write to a drive without using a third party driver and without using a customized driver acting in conjunction with an IDE bus. The system includes a driver programming interface in communication with the application, a service proxy in communication with the driver interface, a service with administrator privileges in communication with the service proxy, a driver in communication with the service with administrator privileges, and a drive in communication with the driver.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description, appended claims, and accompanying exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings.
One embodiment of the invention comprises a system for sending write commands to a drive from a computer application lacking administrator privileges. This system includes: (a) a computer application lacking administrator privileges; (b) a driver programming interface in communication with the computer application; (c) a service proxy in communication with the driver programming interface; (d) a service with administrator privileges in communication with the service proxy; (e) a driver in communication with the service with administrator privileges, wherein the driver is either in communication with an SPTI or is configured in SPTI mode; and (f) a drive in communication with the SPTI or with the SPTI configured driver.
Another embodiment of the invention comprises a method of sending write commands to a drive from a computer application which does not have administrator privileges. This method includes: (a) transmitting write commands between a computer application which does not have administrator privileges and a driver programming interface; (b) transmitting second commands based at least in part on the write commands between the driver programming interface and a service proxy; (c) transmitting third commands based at least in part on the second commands between the service proxy and a service with administrator privileges; (d) transmitting fourth commands based at least in part on the third commands between the service with administrator privileges and a driver; (e) transmitting fifth commands based at least in part on the fourth commands between the driver and an SPTI; and (e) transmitting sixth commands based at least in part on the fifth commands between the SPTI and a drive.
Another embodiment of the invention comprises a method of sending write commands to a drive from a computer application which does not have administrator privileges, the method comprising the steps of: (a) transmitting write commands between a computer application which does not have administrator privileges and a driver programming interface; (b) transmitting second commands based at least in part on the write commands between the driver programming interface and a service proxy; (c) transmitting third commands based at least in part on the second commands between the service proxy and a service with administrator privileges; (d) transmitting fourth commands based at least in part on the third commands between the service with administrator privileges and a driver configured in SPTI mode; and (e) transmitting fifth commands based at least in part on the fourth commands between the driver and a drive.
Another embodiment of the invention comprises a program product for sending write commands to a drive from a computer application which does not have administrator privileges. The program product include machine-readable program code for causing, when executed, a machine to perform the following method: (a) transmitting write commands between a computer application which does not have administrator privileges and a driver programming interface; (b) transmitting second commands based at least in part on the write commands between the driver programming interface and a service proxy; (c) transmitting third commands based at least in part on the second commands between the service proxy and a service with administrator privileges; (d) transmitting fourth commands based at least in part on the third commands between the service with administrator privileges and a driver; (e) transmitting fifth commands based at least in part on the fourth commands between the driver and an SPTI; and (f) transmitting sixth commands based at least in part on the fifth commands between the SPTI and a drive.
Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the invention, which are illustrated in the drawings. An effort has been made to use the same reference numbers throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.
The computer application without administrator privileges 102B may be, for example, a Windows application. This application 102B transmits commands (e.g., write commands) to the driver programming interface 116 by means of a high level language.
The driver programming interface 116 is the top level interface which uses the service proxy 118 to communicate with the CD drive 108. The driver interface 116 provides write/print specific commands that allow the imaging components to read information about the drive 108 and media, and to send settings, as well as actual image data to be printed, to the drive 108. The driver programming interface 116 interprets the high level language commands from the application 102B and communicates with the service proxy 118 by means of high level language (“HLL”) and/or application programming interface (“API”) language.
The service proxy 118 abstracts the need to use inter-process communication (“IPC”) mechanisms for an application without administrator privileges 102B to communicate with the service with administrator privileges 120. Upon recognizing the lack of administrator privileges, the proxy 118 provides generic commands to the service with administrator privileges 120.
The commands transmitted by the service proxy 118 direct the service with administrator privileges 120 to send an input, output, or status (e.g., is the drive running) commands to the drive 108. An input command is a command where the driver 104 wants to read some information from the drive 108 such as the media parameters. An output command is a command such as sending a track of pixel data to the drive 108. The service proxy 118 may also provide standard mechanisms to find all print capable drives on the local system, get a description and drive letter for the drives, send commands to open and close a particular drive for printing, send commands giving the driver 104 an exclusive lock on the drive 108, etc.
To send these commands, the service proxy 118 interfaces with the service with administrator privileges 120. The service with administrator privileges 120 provides administrator access to the driver 104 and is programmed to use the SPTI mode of the class driver 104. Accordingly, in communicating with the driver 104, the service with administrator privileges 120 uses SCSI-pass-through (“SPT”) direct and/or IOCTL commands, i.e., the service with administrator privileges 120 is programmed to send corresponding low-level commands to the drive 108 via the SPTI 106.
As shown, the driver 104 and the SPTI 106 may be separate. In this case, the driver 104 communicates with the SPTI and the SPTI communicates with the drive 108 by means of SCSI commands. By way of contrast, the drive 104 could be combined in a driver 122 configured in SPTI mode in which case the driver 122 could communicate directly with the drive 108 by means of SCSI commands.
Similarly, as shown the service proxy 118 and the service with administrator privileges 120 may be separate. However, it should be recognized that the service proxy 118 and the service with administrator privileges 120 may be combined into one integrated device 124.
It also should be recognized that if the computer application is an application with administrator privileges 102A, the system 200 will work much like the system 100 shown in
The aforementioned system and method of transferring data to a disc provide numerous advantages. For example, the system allows an imaging system to communicate with an optical disc drive, without having to deal with the low-level complexities of SCSI drivers. By way of another example, the system does not require the user to have administrator privileges to access the drive through the SPTI 106. In addition, by using standard OS components and thereby eliminating the need for a new driver, the system: (a) does away with the licensing costs associated with using a third party CD-ROM driver that is not part of the operating system; and (b) does not require certification by the Microsoft Hardware Quality lab.
Although the aforementioned describes embodiments of the invention, the invention is not so restricted. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiments of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Accordingly, these other systems and methods of transmitting write commands from an application without administrator privileges to a drive are fully within the scope of the claimed invention. Therefore, it should be understood that the apparatus and method described herein are illustrative only and are not limiting upon the scope of the invention, which is indicated by the following claims.
